Midway departure delays worst in U.S.; United arrivals top peers

(Crain's) — Midway Airport continued to lag the rest of the nation’s big airports in on-time performance in December.

Less than half of departures left Midway on time in December, according to U.S. Department of Transportation statistics. The second-worst performer was San Francisco International, at 61.8%.

But Midway’s arrival performance was better, ranking it 21st among the nation’s 29 big airports, with 69% of flights arriving on time.

Big snowstorms in mid and late December caused a rash of cancellations at both Midway and O'Hare International Airport — though O’Hare fared much better than Midway.

The Northwest Side airport — whose major carriers, United Airlines and American Airlines, have been slower than others to restore capacity cut during the recession — improved to seventh-worst in December 2010, with 67.8% of departures on time, up from second.

United continued to have the best on-time rate among the big full-service carriers, with 85% of its flights across the country arriving on time in December, Bureau of Transportation Statistics show. Of airlines overall, only Hawaiian Airlines, which benefits from better weather, had a stronger performance, at 87.6%.

American was second among traditional carriers, at 80.5% of flights on time, up from No. 3 in November. A year ago, American was fifth, behind United, Delta, US Airways and Southwest.

United, once a laggard in on-time performance, has had the best rankings for the past two years.

Midway’s performance has sputtered as Southwest Airlines, which accounts for more than 80% of flights there, has added service to more congested airports such as New York City’s LaGuardia and Boston’s Logan International. Midway, Southwest's second-busiest hub, increasingly is serving as Southwest's connecting hub for flights destined for those airports.

"The main challenges we are facing systemwide, and especially in Chicago, are record load factors, more connecting customers than ever before and, of course, the bad weather in December," a Southwest spokesman said in an e-mail. Making Midway a connection hub "is somewhat new for us," the spokesman wrote, and the airline is "tweaking the schedule . . . and we have initiatives in place that we are confident will result in immediate incremental improvements."

Midway was the worst performer in the country last year, too, with 59% of flights departing on time.